The trail was in great shape and I made the 2 mile hike without too much effort. The flooded beaver dam wasn't an issue as I was able to rock hop across the outlet. The big pines are always impressive.

Out for a day hike to see the falls. Missed a turn though. Still a good hike. Went to the lean-to, ate lunch and hiked back. Pretty flat, a few bumps. Very easy hike. Awesome cable bridge before the shelter.

Early April .. access road closed - we drove as far as we could (road not cleared/lots of deep mud) .. hiked the 2.5 miles to trailhead. Take a left at trailhead for a beautiful view of river and a neat cable bridge! Highlight of our day and worth the hike!!

When we arrived to the parking lot, it was full of cars to which we later found belonged to an active group of hiking seniors that beat us to the Orchard. The lightly used snowmobile trail offered a stable hiking/skiing/snowshoe base. A beautiful walk in the woods to some nice large trees. Another point of interest is the very large boulder 100+ yards to the right of the orchard which sits in the middle of the woods with no rhyme or reason to it's original location. It obviously traveled some distance via glacier from it's original location.

Pull into the whitehouse parking lot and enter on the left side; once in the woods stay to the right of the register, when you get to the fork where it splits to the NPT, stay left (but not to Mud Lake) there is no sign. Being that this trail is so lightly traveled, it's easy to get off so you MUST mark it somehow. I hiked this in the fall and the trail was covered in leaves, putting us into a predicament for a few minutes.. absolutely gorgeous and serene though. It's about a 2 mile walk to the first river crossing, and we were not well equipped to cross it (it appears as though you have no choice but to get wet). No waterfalls for us, but still beautiful... Just be very careful and trace your steps

Great trail however when you get to the register there is only one sign which points towards mud lake and the northville placid trail. We went over the bridge and hiked for 2 hours deep into the woods hoping to find the falls only to realize we should have taken the right fork and not the left fork at the register. If you want to see the falls go right at the register. A new sign should be out up at the register.

We enjoyed this hike while geocaching in July 2013. The trail back to the falls is fairly straightforward - the stream crossing can be tricky, just look for the flagging in the tree. Once back on the trail it is very enjoyable with many beautiful spots along the river along the way. At about 0.4 miles from the large falls the trail gets a bit rough and tough to follow including one stretch where you need long legs to get around an outcrop along the water or you'll need to shed your boots :) - but if you can navigate back it is well worth it. We actually climbed the VERY steep slope near the falls on the way out so we could walk the ridge back to the trail and avoid the tough parts of the trail. This was a great decision because there is a great campsite at the top of the cliff with an incredible view. Fantastic hike that took us about 4 hours.

Really good trail. There isn't a boulder blocking the road anymore so you can drive right up to the trail head. It's a little tricky figuring out where to cross the small stream to get to the river but it's marked with tape and you should see a camp spot near the crossing. If you lose the trail just head back to the river and you will always find it again. It's a good trail to just do your own thing on.